the scenario:
As head of corporate R&D, you recognize the need to be working on technologies that are 5 to 10 years from actualization, but the word has come down that you should focus only on those technologies that show results next year, and...

You instituted a review of all R&D projects and sure enough, everyone came up with the same story... that their "pet technology" was the key to the future of the company. Not only that but the realization that cuts were coming was causing normally cooperative people to become antagonistic and territorial.

what could consensus do:
Help by using everyone in the department to develop a process to evaluate and compare competing technologies in a fair and standardized way and then ensuring that the process was fine-tuned so that it provided everyone an opportunity to contribute and learn.

This is the ideal application of the team development services offered by Consensus. After meeting, we would probably recommend establishing a team to develop a standard process for evaluating and comparing technologies. This process would draw on the strengths and knowledge of everyone in your department. The team would work with the technology focals, as well as product managers, to define the long term conceptual product focus areas. Then, consensus would assist the team in developing a continuous technology evaluation system that evaluated technologies based on potential merits including the effects of shifting market focus.

a potential outcome:
Implementing the process stops the in fighting over whose project survives. In addition, the standardization allows you to bring the focus away from short term goals and back to longer term since the benefits of each are considered side by side.

The combination not only allowed you to target shorter term high payoff technologies, but it gave you the information required to evaluate longer term technologies and promising new technologies at the same time. The important result... you were able to get a commitment from corporate that at least 30% of your R&D funds HAD TO FOCUS 10 years out. the technology evaluation process has been adopted organization wide.

 

* Based on actual experience using the Consensus Technology approach to define the technical content of a multi-company, joint government/industry research project in which both the industry participants and the government entities were historical competitors